Court ruling: NDC heads to Appeal Court, insists it remains registered

The Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC) has rejected Friday’s ruling of the Federal High Court in Lokoja, Kogi State, setting aside an earlier judgment that had compelled the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to register it as a political party and headed to the Court of Appeal.

The party said that it remained legally recognised and would immediately challenge the decision at the Court of Appeal.

The party’s National Chairman, Senator Moses Cleopas, stated this at a news conference he addressed in Abuja at the NDC National Secretariat.

Cleopas said that the ruling neither directed its deregistration nor invalidated the nominations of its candidates for the 2027 general election, urging members and supporters across the country to remain calm.

While describing the court’s decision as legally flawed, he argued that the trial court lacked the jurisdiction to revisit a matter on which it had already delivered a final judgment.

The national chairman said that the application that resulted in Friday’s ruling was brought by Peace Movement Party (PMP), which he described as an unregistered association that neither participated in the original suit nor currently enjoyed the status of a registered political party.

He said that the party had already instructed its legal team to file an appeal challenging both the jurisdiction of the court and the propriety of the order.

The party chairman recalled that following INEC’s refusal to register it, it approached the Federal High Court in December 2025.

He said that the party secured a judgment affirming its constitutional right to freedom of association and directing the electoral commission to register it as a political party.

Cleopas stated that since obtaining registration, the party had carried out nationwide membership registration, conducted ward, local government, state and national congresses, and held its national convention

“We concluded primary elections for all elective offices and participated in INEC’s activities, including recent by-elections in Nasarawa and Enugu states,” he said.

He added that the party had already nominated candidates for Houses of Assembly, House of Representatives, Senate, governorship, and presidential elections, and was processing their formal submission to INEC in line with the commission’s timetable.

Questioning the legal basis of Friday’s ruling, the NDC chairman argued that the court had become a functus officio after delivering its earlier judgment and therefore lacked the authority to set it aside through an interlocutory application.

He further maintained that issues relating to the use of its party symbol and colours had already been determined in the earlier proceedings and that no appeal had been filed against that judgment.

“The court made no order directing the deregistration of the Nigeria Democratic Congress,” he said.

The party chairman maintained that its presidential candidate, Peter Obi, and vice-residential candidate, Rabiu Kwankwaso, were already cleared by the party after the primaries and would be on the ballot in the 2027 general election.

All efforts to deregister the party, he said, would be resisted by all legal means.